Recommendations

The first dud in the Numan discography, I Am Render and The Tick Tock Man are not of Numan quality and destroys the album flow and listening experience. I would have preferred the following track list, would have pulled the album up to passable descent level:

Warriors: A solid slow Numan groover The Iceman Comes: The standout piece of the album, one of Numans finest downtempo tunesThis Prison Moon: Decent disco, with a good beatMy Car Slides 1/2: A nice vocal melody that develops into a funk groove in part 2

My Centurion: A track in the same vein as WarriorsSister Surprise: Decent enough funk work-out, but a bit laboured and too longLove Is Like A Clock Law: Passable balladThe Rhythm Of The Evening: One of the better tracks on the album, got a raw live jam feel to it.

A lot of Numan fans seem torn about this album; I myself am in a very shaky middle ground, I've never been able to make my mind up on whether simply casting it off as a weak link or as some misunderstood experiment. The first track, Warriors, sort of brings up all of the album's strengths and weaknesses: it's long and somewhat meandering, not really sure what it should be, and while being fairly catchy and the lyrics are interesting, I've never really understood exactly what Numan wants me to make out of the song. Each of the rest of the album's songs, including the b-sides, give me that, or a similar, feeling. The only two tracks that I've ever been decided on, and genuinely enjoyed, would be My Centurion and the b-side Poetry And Power, which many other fans have regarded as among the worst pieces here.

I think it's the execution of these tracks that confound my ears. I've heard most of these songs live on many various occasions, and I've preferred those recordings far more than the original studio mixes, even if the production on either don't differ greatly, thus the execution of it. I sort of think of Numan's questionable costuming during this album's phase that kind of coincides with the contradicting style of the music, wishing to say one thing, but then not quite saying it clearly.

Gary Numan goes 'Mad Max' on the cover, Bill Nelson goes mad when he finds out Gary's been fiddling with the mix behind his back! Not a good starting place but this album is still surprisingly good. Underrated for melancholy writing, juxtaposed with 'fake funk' foot-tappers, glorious guitar licks and swoops from Mr. Nelson and burping bass from Joe Hubbard, this still holds the attention well after twenty odd years. The Lyrics 'Look at your face, It's so fortunately arranged' always makes me laugh, delivered in that trademark flat drawl. One of a kind.Check Dalis Car's 'The Waking Hour' and Bill Nelson's 'Chimera' if you dig this.Extra tracks are good too, and in keeping with the 'feel' of the album material.